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New Red Sea Max


RedSeaGal

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Hi~I am new to this forum and to the Red Sea Max aquarium. I have had it for 8 days now. I have about 45 lbs of live rock and the reef base that came with the starter kit. Which I thought I would hate when I saw it in the bag, but with the lighting, it looks really good. I am glad I decided to use it. Just wondering when I can start adding corals. Does anyone recommend adding macro algae? Also, when should I add my cleaning crew? What kind of things do you add to the water? I bought some B-ionic, but what else should I use?

Here is my new tank!

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Hi RedSeaGal,

 

I just started in this hobby aswell and from the advise here on NR, you should introduce CUC when you have Diatom algae bloom. Test your water for Ph, Nitrites, Ammonia and Nitrates and Salinity. When you have 0's for everything but the Ph (you should be at 8.2) and Salinity at 1.023 which will likely take about a month or so then you can slowly add corals. Im sure if I missed something or stated wrong info someone will correct me.

 

I really like your aquascape, lots of nice caves and ledges for corals.

 

Welcome to the addiction. :)

 

Shaz

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Hi Shaz,

 

Thanks for the compliment! It took me most of the day to do it, but I think I am finally happy with it.

 

Thanks for the information too, how long does it take for the diatom algae blooms to start? I have my skimmer running too, mainly to age so that the microbubbles would stop, and it's been pulling some stuff off since I added the rock yesterday. Should I turn it off during the cycle?

 

I took a look at your tank, it looks great! How long have you had it set up now? Oh yea, also are you using the B-ionic, I have heard good things about it but wasn't sure what else to add to the water with it.

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RSG, today is the 7th day I had it setup and I am seeing diatoms developing, I also just got a skimmer and according to advice I have it running. Hope Im doing the right thing. I also bought B-ionic but just used it once. I also added some Purpleup today.

 

I am getting lots micro bubbles in my tank but I guess it will take a couple of weeks to settle down. Hopefully some members here will correct us if we are wrong to run the skimmer. I am a newbie at this just like you. :)

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Shaz,

 

I am adding the exact same things you are. I add B-ionic everyday and Purple up. I am on my 9th day now and I don't have any algae even thinking about starting. Maybe the skimmer? I have been running mine since day 2 and my bubbles have been gone for the last couple of days now. I think they need to get a little dirty for the bubbles to stop. I also have my air open full blast.

 

Is this fun or what??? I am having a blast so far! It is nice talking to someone new too, we will learn together! :D

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Hey hey and welcome to the RSM club. Please check out my thread via my signature for ideas or questions.

 

Advice: Do not run your skimmer at this time. You are still at the very beggining of your cylce and it can be counter productive. Plus you have nothing to skim since you do not have a bio load yet ( ie fish etc.) You can run it once you add a few fish. Take this hobby slow, bad things only happen fast. As of right now you are over dosing with the b-ionic. I use the same product and dose every 2-3 days. Yet my tank is FULL of corals that deplete calcium and other elements. Have you tested your calcium yet? You will want to keep it around 420 ppm. If you are dosing every day you have to be WAY over that amound, especially if you are using purple up as well. Your rock will not eat up calc. very fast.

 

I would choose what product to use, but do not use both b-ionic and purple up at the same time. YOu are only dosing twice as much of almost the same elements. You are not hurting your tank right now but you will over time especially when you want to finally add some life to it.

 

You won't see anything in your simmer as stated before because you have no bioload. Algae is not a bio load contributer.

 

I would redirect your koraila from pointing towards the back to the front. Aim it at the mid left front corner of the glass.

 

Hope this helps, ask away if you have anything else or shoot me a PM for other direction.

 

Good luck

 

Regards-

Steve

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I would redirect your koraila from pointing towards the back to the front. Aim it at the mid left front corner of the glass.

 

Hope this helps, ask away if you have anything else or shoot me a PM for other direction.

 

Good luck

 

Regards-

Steve

Ok, here are some pictures of the Koralia now..let me know what you think!

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Steive, Thank you again for the advice. I will be dosing 1/4 capful once a week of purpleup. Directed the Koralia mid left corner as RSG.

 

RSG, it sure is exciting to watch the development of the tank. Do you have any hitchhikers in there that you noticed? I am getting a buch of little criters crawling out of their caves. I also got the diatoms developing every hour it seems. I should be ready for a mini CUC pending my params by the weekend. :)

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Welcome RedSeaGal! B)

 

I'd definitely either add one of the other between B-Ionic or Purple up, adding both will more than likely dose too much Ca into your tank, plus Ca isn't terribly necessary until you have corals (particularly SPS coral) and/or clams. But since you are dosing Ca you absolutely should be testing your Ca daily to make sure you aren't over dosing. You really don't want it over 450ppm, and no lower than 400-420ppm. Tank looks really good so far though! :)

 

As for macro algae, it's definitely good to have, but not until the tank is properly cycled. Same with cleanup crew. You'll have to wait until your tank is cycled. That can take anywhere from a week to a month, just depends on how established your rock is when you got it. Good luck!!

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RSG, it sure is exciting to watch the development of the tank. Do you have any hitchhikers in there that you noticed? I am getting a buch of little criters crawling out of their caves. I also got the diatoms developing every hour it seems. I should be ready for a mini CUC pending my params by the weekend. :)

 

Shaz, I bought some rock from a tank that had been set up for 3 years, but I have not found too much yet..I did see a little greyish white starfish looking thing and I think I have some pulsing xenia, I saw it when I pulled the rock out of the box, but it looked dead and then I forgot about it when I was arranging my rock and put it almost upside down and towards the back, but it is coming up and around the rock now and it looks just like the pictures I have seen other than it's not pulsing. Too traumatized, I'm sure! I also found one little orange polyp. Oh and 2 baby margarita snails. Other than that, no other creatures yet.

 

I am also still waiting for any sign of algae, but nothing so far. What kind of CUC are you going to get?

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Welcome RedSeaGal! B)

 

I'd definitely either add one of the other between B-Ionic or Purple up, adding both will more than likely dose too much Ca into your tank, plus Ca isn't terribly necessary until you have corals (particularly SPS coral) and/or clams. But since you are dosing Ca you absolutely should be testing your Ca daily to make sure you aren't over dosing. You really don't want it over 450ppm, and no lower than 400-420ppm. Tank looks really good so far though! :)

 

As for macro algae, it's definitely good to have, but not until the tank is properly cycled. Same with cleanup crew. You'll have to wait until your tank is cycled. That can take anywhere from a week to a month, just depends on how established your rock is when you got it. Good luck!!

 

Hi Phixion, Thanks for the Welcome! This is a great forum~I love all the replies and advice I am getting, it really helps!

 

I have only seen a few tanks with the macro algae and sometimes people say it doesn't look right, but I thought about getting some red branching codium, it's slow growing and looks kind of like a coral to me, from the pictures I have seen. I don't think I am going to get any of the green leafy stuff.

 

I am also looking for some info on how many shrimp I can add to a 34 Gallon tank. I am wanting to add 2 Skunk cleaner shrimp, 1 Blood/Fire shrimp and later on down the road, 3 Sexy Shrimp. I have heard I should have a tank for 6 months before I add the sexy shrimp, is that right? Would that be too many for that size of a tank?

 

As far as fish go, I would like to add a mated pair of clownfish, mated pair of scooter blennies and maybe a mated pair of mandarin fish, I know they need copepods and a very established tank, but can you keep them in a 34 gallon with scooter blennies? AND I do know not to add them all at once, I am just wanting an idea of how many fish I should keep in that size of a tank. I am mostly interested in corals, not too many fish really.

 

Thanks for replying!

RSG

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I dont know too much about shrimp so I won't try to answer that. As for the fish the scooter blennies and mandarins both eat pods. I would say that you couldn't do any in that size tank without a big fuge, try looking at other gobies or blennies. clown fish sound good though

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I dont know too much about shrimp so I won't try to answer that. As for the fish the scooter blennies and mandarins both eat pods. I would say that you couldn't do any in that size tank without a big fuge, try looking at other gobies or blennies. clown fish sound good though

 

Hi Thunil~Thanks for your reply! If I am able to feed them, are they compatible together in the same tank?

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RSG, for the shrimp, I'd say maybe start with one of each between the skunks and blood red, then add another skunk later on if still want another. Sexy I've heard the same about having a well established tank before trying them out. Start with one though at first of course to get a feel for them, then add more later on. As for the mandrins, I'm not sure on the tank size requirements, but an established fuge with endless amounts of pods is for sure a must!! The pair of clowns and pair of blennies should be fine though. Blennies before clowns of course since clowns are more aggressive. :) Ishould get a mandrin myself though since my fuge is spilling over with pods... *sigh*

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Looks like you have plenty of life on the LR and plenty of Corraline on it aswell. Have you been checking your params? as soon as you get everything at 0s and nitrates high, you should be getting diatoms then.

 

I will be starting super slow and adding two or three cuc members to eat up the diatoms. Not sure exactly what I will be getting though. Any advice? the one blue legged hermit I have goes to work every day pulling stuff of the rocks. He has been my only source of entertainment for the past week :)

 

 

Phixion, I have added a fuge with chaeto in it, is this alright to do? also how do you cultivate pods?

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Phixion~ that is exactly what I was thinking about the shrimp, I just paid for a cleaner shrimp and I if I get a blood shrimp, I can add them at the same time, right?

 

If I was you with that many pods, I would definately get a mandarine! Those are awesome! Do you have pictures of your tank? How long have you had it?

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I will be starting super slow and adding two or three cuc members to eat up the diatoms. Not sure exactly what I will be getting though. Any advice? the one blue legged hermit I have goes to work every day pulling stuff of the rocks. He has been my only source of entertainment for the past week :)

 

Hi Shaz!

 

I would get some scarlet reef hermits, I have heard only good things about them..they aren't as aggressive as the others, as far as stealing shells. I am not going to get any snails that can't turn themselves over either. I am going to get some banded Trochus snails, cerith snails and some nassarius snails. Those last 2 are great for sifting through your sand and keeping it stirred up. ( I have a friend that has all the above and loves them) The astrea snails are always falling on top of their shells and can't turn over and end up dying in your tank to become hermit lunch. :) How are you liking the blue legged hermit?

 

I am on day 10 now and NO algae.... what is going on????

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The astrea sounds too much of a upkeep. I think I will get some cerith and nassarius snails, scarlet hermits and few more of the blue legged. My blue legs works pretty hard pulling stuff of the rocks so I am really happy with him/her. LFS told me to wait till my nitrates are really low to add anything else to it so I guess its a waiting game now.

 

Have you done your water tests yet?

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The astrea sounds too much of a upkeep. I think I will get some cerith and nassarius snails, scarlet hermits and few more of the blue legged. My blue legs works pretty hard pulling stuff of the rocks so I am really happy with him/her. LFS told me to wait till my nitrates are really low to add anything else to it so I guess its a waiting game now.

 

Have you done your water tests yet?

 

Shaz, yes... I have zero amonia and nitrites. Trace of nitrates. I also tested my calcium and was at 460 this morning, so I am glad I was told not to use both B-ionic and Purple up... so now I am going to use the B-ionic every 3 days and see how that goes.

 

Also..you should REALLY try to find some Trochus snails, they LOVE hair algae.

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Shaz, yes... I have zero amonia and nitrites. Trace of nitrates. I also tested my calcium and was at 460 this morning, so I am glad I was told not to use both B-ionic and Purple up... so now I am going to use the B-ionic every 3 days and see how that goes.

 

Also..you should REALLY try to find some Trochus snails, they LOVE hair algae.

 

 

Keep an eye on your calcium, if your using the red sea salt, depending on your salinity level, the red sea salt has 450ppm calcium at 1.021 salinity, i believe it approaches 480 at around 1.025. I was dosing with purple up and realized that i didn't need it, with a weekly water change, you shouldn't need to dose anything.

 

the tank looks nice, +1 on your rock scaping.

 

Stan-O

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Keep an eye on your calcium, if your using the red sea salt, depending on your salinity level, the red sea salt has 450ppm calcium at 1.021 salinity, i believe it approaches 480 at around 1.025. I was dosing with purple up and realized that i didn't need it, with a weekly water change, you shouldn't need to dose anything.

 

the tank looks nice, +1 on your rock scaping.

 

Stan-O

 

Hi Stan-O, Thanks for your reply! You have a Red Sea Max too, huh? How are you liking it? Do you have any pictures? I am using the Red Sea Coral Pro salt..I think I have bought a bunch of stuff for the water that I didn't need. What kind of things do you add to your water?

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Phixion~ that is exactly what I was thinking about the shrimp, I just paid for a cleaner shrimp and I if I get a blood shrimp, I can add them at the same time, right?

 

If I was you with that many pods, I would definately get a mandarine! Those are awesome! Do you have pictures of your tank? How long have you had it?

 

Yeah, adding the 2 at the same time should be fine. :)

 

I've considered a mandrin, but everyone warns me against getting one because of the eating requirements with pods. I mean I have tons of them, but sometimes I wonder if they are even enough to sustain a maderin for long term, lol! I may get brave and try it out one day though, I am in the market for a new fish or two after the female of my tomato clown pair died while I was out of town last week. :(

 

I use the same salt you're using and love it!! 460ppm of Ca is on the higher side, but my 30g tank has been running at almost 500ppm of Ca (I don't dose the tank with any either) and my coral growth pretty impressive. I'm not sure how the Ca is always high even after having some SPS and now 3 clams (got the 3rd last weekend). But I'm not complaining though. Do definitely keep an eye on your Ca levels though. If you want the most use of your 2 dosing products, you could always alternate between the B-Ionic and Purple Up. Maybe add one of them one day, then the other a few days later and vice versa.

 

I personally don't dose anything to my water I mix using the RSCP salt, but I have seen an LFS near me that doses all of the water they sell (RO/DI, pre-mixed SW and Catalina brand seawater) all with Kent Marine's Coral-Vite suppliment. I guess I just prefer clean water going into my tank. ;) Anywho I have tons of pics of my tank(s), the links to all of them are in my signature below. My AP12g is my old tank that I sold a couple months ago, and my 30g is my now main tank which I've had up since January, and then I just started up a 10g last month.

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